Components

Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt of India. of India shall be the Nodal Ministry for implementation and monitoring of the scheme. Ministry of Tribal Affairs shall announce Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the selected MFPs with the technical support from TRIFED.

TRIFED shall be Central Nodal Agency for implementation of the scheme through State level implementing agencies.

The basic component of the scheme includes declaration of MSP for notified MFPs by the Central Government based on the recommendation of the Pricing Cell set up within TRIFED. The Pricing Cell has already been under the Chairmanship of Managing Director, TRIFED comprising representatives of Planning Commission, Commission for Agricultural Cost & Price, Ministry of Rural Development, Indian Institute of Forest Management , Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education, National Council for Applied Economic Research and experts in the relevant field. In addition, Chief Executive Officers of designated States Procurement agencies will also be invited as a Special Invitees for the purpose. Pricing cell has been entrusted with the following tasks

To arrange to initiate a baseline survey in each of the 8 States to assess the present status of MFP and its cost of collection, cleaning & primary processing, packaging and transportation for each of selected MFP covered under the scheme;

The data base to be created based on the above baseline survey on the said parameters shall be used as a reference/criteria for fixation of MSP for each of MFP items;

The cost of collection could be reviewed periodically and the periodicity of revision could be three years ;

The Pricing Cell shall study the prevalent system in different States for the purpose and interact with agencies and suggest inputs on price fixation; and

The Pricing Cell shall recommend State-wise MSP for MFP on the basis of the survey to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt. of India, which shall finally announce State-wise MSP for MFPs covered under the scheme.

State designated agencies : will undertake procurement of notified MFPs directly from MFP gatherers (individual or collectives) at haats /village/pre notified procurement centres at prefixed Minimum Support Price and ensure full & timely payment to MFP gatherers across the country. States will ensure setting up of adequate number of Procurement Centres with necessary manpower and storage facility to meet the needs of MFP gatherers and thereby minimize exploitation by middle men. The State Procurement Agency will ensure proper collection, transportation, handling and storage arrangements to avoid deterioration in the quality. Appropriate guidelines for efficient and transparent procurement, supervision and monitoring of the operations will be issued by the Procurement Agency to the field level functionaries.

Revolving fund :The State Governments Agencies will undertake procurement and marketing operations of MFPs under MSP Scheme. A revolving fund shall be provided to each designated State for procurement of MFPs from the gatherers at the prefixed MSP. The revolving fund requirement for each State shall be assessed based on a Procurement Plan every year. A separate account for the Revolving fund shall be maintained by each State and will be used by the States for procuring the notified MFPs at pre-fixed MSP for the ensuing crop season. The sale proceeds realized through the disposal of the procured quantities shall also be deposited in the same account. A provision of Rs.345 Crore has been made for revolving funds as central share and remaining 25% shall be arranged by State Govts.

Subsidy Requirement :Subsidy is required for the States to compensate for the losses if incurred, during the MSP operation. It is essentially an anti poverty measures, as it addresses the livelihood of some of the poorest communities in the country. The designated State Procurement Agency will finalize the accounts related to each commodity on yearly basis and based on the certified accounts subsidy shall be released to State Procurement agencies to the extent of 75% and remaining 25% shall be borne by the State. A provision of Rs.285 Crores has been made in the budget for this purpose.

The Scheme shall provide training to 1,00,000 tribal MFP gatherers on sustainable harvesting and value addition activities including facilitation for marketing of the produces.

Market information system : The existence and dissemination of complete and accurate market information is the key to achieve both operational and pricing efficiency. Therefore, MFPNET a portal dedicated to MFPs is being established to implement information and communication technology based schemes. The basic objectives is to establish nationwide information network for speedy collection and dissemination of market information and data for its efficient and timely utilization.

Modernizations of Haats :The identified MFPs will be procured from the gatherers at village/ haat level centres where the gatherers bring their produce after collection, drying, cleaning & grading for sale. State agencies have to establish adequate number of such procurement centres. In some States, the Governments have already taken measures to provide facilities like construction of platforms, shades, etc. However, in many other States, purchase & sale of commodities (MFP/SAP etc.)in haats is done in open and thus buyers and sellers have to face lot of problems during rainy & hot summer season. In order to improve the condition of these places and establish a formal structure where trading can take place in a systematic manner Haats shall be modernized. Modernisation of haats will be done by State agencies in consultation with Gram Sabha/ Panchayat and District Administration.

Creation of storage facilities at aggregation points :The stocks procured by State designated agencies in each haat bazaar may be too small and therefore, would need to be transported to the aggregation centres from where bulk quantity will be transported to the centrally located godown/ cold storage exist or to be provided. Therefore, it is essential to establish a godown of 50 MTs at block level to aggregate the stocks procured at each haat. The cost of land and recurring expenses will be met by respective State agencies.

Multi Purpose Centre for training, primary processing, value addition in MFPs and storage/ (warehouse & cold storage) facilities :To facilitate capacity building, training for value addition, storage, marketing of MFPs etc TRIFED will establish initially five multipurpose centres in the first phase (12th Five year plan )for training, primary processing, value addition in MFPs and warehousing & cold storage facilities will be required. The idea is to establish an infrastructures where examples of livelihood through value addition shall be created. Such examples shall be replicated at other places on its success.

To ensure transparency and their accountability to Gram Sabhas, all Procurement Agencies will share full information about MSP operation and local accounts with the Gram Sabhas.

The total outlay for the Scheme is Rs.967 Crore as Centre’s share for the plan period during 2013-14 to 2016-17.